Chapter 12

Awakening my eyes to my sixteenth day in Orario, I look up at a dilapidated hut's roof. Man, this sucks. We need to wait at least a week for the preparations to be done for the custom-base; I know we make a lot of valis nowadays but I'm somewhat surprised we can afford a custom. Someone owes Dia a favour, maybe?

I reach up to grab my longsword and I pause. Oh right, I'm supposed to rest since we technically just levelled up a day ago. So a three-day vacation… Despite that, my hand was inching even closer to my sword… Am I trigger-happy? Or rather, slash-happy?

Oh no, I'm actually becoming a training maniac aren't I? The signs are all there – the enjoyment in soloing another iteration of myself, the excitement in gaining more stats for my falna, the rush of adrenalin as I hack and slash an enemy's head off…

Or I'm an adrenaline junkie. Hmm, must be that; there's something about blood being pumped around your body as the world slows down and you suddenly gain immense strength.

It's addictive. At least, somewhat.

A whiff of fluffy omelettes and orange juice pierced my nose; ah, Dia is making breakfast then? Wonder what Emma is doing? She and Dia kinda decided for a "girl's day out" whilst the latter half of the day has been decided to be spent celebrating reaching Level 2 in a tavern which Emma practically begged us to go to. She even reserved a specific table just for us.

I didn't really like taverns, but seeing Emma pout must mean there's something special about them. Not as special as old-man Maurice's chocolate hot-drinks, of course.

I shifted my eyes to my surroundings – more specifically I glared at my leather boots. Just a little effort and I can go out to eat with the duo.

"Link!"

See? My name was called.

…

Why can't I rid myself of my slothful behaviour? Oh right, don't wanna. Albert Edel was an inherently lazy person – the type of person to drop something by accident and spend a good ten seconds looking at the dropped item at his feet wondering if he should bother picking it up. 

Wait, that's it! It's not my fault, it's Albert's fault! Then again, Link was also a lazy person as he was noted to doze off on trees like in Ocarina Of Time. Huh, how did I know that? I never played Ocarina Of Time, or did I? Memories tend to blur and information becomes muddled over long periods of time. Whatever, it wasn't that important.

"Link, if you don't want to eat – I can eat your share!" Emma's voice ringed back.

That damned, pinkette! That's my food!

†

Now then, what does one do on a free day? I couldn't help but ponder such mysteries as I walked the clean streets (I cleaned it myself) of Orario. Should I hang out with Hachiman? Nah, he has work. Lefiya? Work. Uh, is there anyone else? J-John? Nevermind, I shouldn't bother random people who I help because I'm around. I'm not close with them, I'm just doing them a favour out of my own volition and selfishness.

So that brings us back to the question, what should I do?

THUNK

"Ow." I muttered plainly with no serious intent as I bumped into a… vending machine? It looked like the Guild Vending Machine. Brown in decor, had a bunch of carbonated drinks inside along with tea and coffee and had the label "Gaige" written on the side. 

Actually now that I realise it, I nearly bumped into a wall. Where am I? Ah, near a ring in which fighters are duking it in one of the more 'shady but still populated with normal-folk' areas.

In front of me were two individuals engaging in combat.

A blond teenager with neck-length shaggy hair wielding dual daggers in brown rogue-like clothing and a woman with neck-length black-turquoise hair and blue eyes wielding a longsword with a black cat-like coat around a corset with black tights with intricate designs (for style) and armored boots armlets. Hmm, they're surprisingly quite powerful. Wouldn't mind taking a shot at them myself.

Turquoise kicked him away and he rolled as they were once again in starting stances again – intently observing the other. Blond had his dual daggers being wielded in front of his face whilst ready to move at any moment; Turquoise had her sword pointed towards him whilst her right foot was slightly farther so she could put more power into her strikes with assistance from her footing.

They continued to battle.

Turquoise was a heavy hitter – she had impact in her strikes as well as the planning skills to bait him into moves that she was ready for. Blond, whilst not weak, was dexterous in his attacks and had quite the speed however his flaw was that he was too hot-headed against Turquoise who seemed as if she could flawlessly predict any future possibility. The insight she had was simply insane.

"GUHAK!" A groan resounded as the blond was kicked away quite the distance as he rolled onto his feet only to be met with another kick to his ankle which caused him to fall and be subjected to more attacks.

Turquoise's blade paused between Blond's neck.

The blond sighed relieved, "I yield."

An announcer who had no other remarkable features other than being blond and wearing sunglasses yelled "Thus the winner is Level 2 Byleth Eisner!"

Cheers resonated as Byleth Eisner lended the blond her palm as he grabbed it to lift himself up with his support.

The announcer continued to speak "And as a penalty, Level 2 Thorfinn Karlsefni shall join the Sopdet Familia!" Even more cheers resonated "Looks like Orario has an upcoming star this year and for the future to come!"

"Anyone else?" Byleth asked as she looked around to nearby adventurers.

There were murmurs all-around and whilst there were Level 2 adventurers around (or at least those that felt like it) most were hesitating to combat her.

Meh, I had my Powell Longsword strapped to my back and I'm really itching for a good fight.

"Me." I stated with a raised palm as I calmly entered past the fences of the ring.

She nodded as we both decided to go to our positions. She was a fair distance away in front of me. She already had her sword pointed towards me whilst I already had my grip onto my longsword's handle still strapped to my back whilst ready to move at any given possibility.

"Byleth Eisner." She spoke.

"Link Mario." 

The announcer looked between the two of us. "Ready? Then begin!"

Byleth stood still observing me whilst I did the same. I couldn't act recklessly against someone like Byleth; she was observative, strategic and calculating whilst having the power to carry out her plans. I was the opposite in a fight as I naturally relied on instinct, guts and quick-time observation – improvisation – in a fight.

However, against someone like her I have no choice but to think my actions through. I had to predict someone who was actively predicting me.

I took a deep breath in and the world slowed down as I felt power course through me.

It was clear that she wouldn't make the first move; her impartial face had no change in expression – merely dead-set on observing me.

I had two plans and a maybe plan c:

•Plan A: Predict the predictor. Has a decent chance of succeeding but I need to be able to properly predict her; I have to emulate what possible ways she can slash her sword and manipulate her footwork at split seconds to predict her future options.

•Plan B: Trick the predictor. Most likely to succeed but being led from Plan A would cause at least a split-second of confusion before she adapts.

•Plan C: Brute force with intuition, instincts and reaction time. Least likely to succeed.

I could feel a faint grin on my face as the adrenaline sparking in my blood was practically seducing me.

I made the first move.

I dove into her flank whilst attempting a 'piercing' sword-spin on her which she adeptly evaded and swung her own longsword down to my side. Hm, interesting. She predicted I would attack her flank.

Blood pumped around my body even further as the world became slower even further. I had to mix Plan A with Plan B. I gathered strength on the metatarsalgia of my feet to push myself off the ground and spin over her as my sword was pointed outwards slashing her back whilst I then rotated my body to face her again to deflect a slash from her sword that unfortunately put quite the pressure on my wrist from a simple clash.

Tch. She's physically stronger than me.

I had no way to end the clash that I was slowly losing. I had to win some other way…

Before I could contemplate some other way to victory, I was kicked off my balance… quite literally. She suddenly put even more power into her slash and punched me which stunned me momentarily whilst then proceeding to rotate and kick me some distance away. I of course rolled away dodging another attempt to harm my being as I steadied myself to glare at her.

Her expression was still passive like mine; we were both observing the other and it was quite clear she had more experience in observing as she had some sort of insight on my own combat style now whilst all I knew was that she preferred predicting and often involved kicking and punching into her fighting style whilst occasionally putting more emphasis on her feet to put more power in her blows, she's not particularly fast either. Unlike me she has power whilst I have speed but even that's debatable as she's an experienced Level 2 whilst I just started out as one – I'm most likely being boosted through ignoring my inborn limiter and adrenaline.

Wait, that was quite the amount of information. I shudder to think about what information she has on me compared to a novice like me.

I could feel wariness in her listless stare. Hm, seems like she expects me to fight dirty now. How could I use that information?

My long-ears twitched as I loomed over the information I was now receiving. If I wanted to win then I needed to also register the minor details. The sound of her breathing and surroundings, the visual possibilities like how she could react and move, the internal possibilities like how she would think and plan ahead, the pressure of the wind and vibrations in the ground. I needed to register the information for everything.

She was waiting for me to make the first move again. Maybe I could bait her into making the next move? But is it a plausible course of action? What should I do? What could I rely on? How would I move onwards? What is my goal? What is my process to reach my goal? What, where, when, why, how, what-if, maybe, if so…

A thousand conversations rang in my head like a bell that started behaving like a desperate heart.

Eventually I stopped thinking altogether. Oh well, that was my goal.

Information Overload.

It's time for Plan C. I'll rely on my instincts, intuition and reaction time as well as the excess of information to adapt accordingly. I'll let irrationality guide me to defeat someone seemingly consumed by rationality.

Everything blurred from then on but the conclusion was apparent to me. It was a tie. 

Our blades were at each other's neck.

A ghost of a smile appeared on her face; I faintly smiled.

†

It was the afternoon and time for the celebration at the inn that Emma booked.

Hostess Of Fertility. A tavern that also worked as an inn. The floors were seemingly oak in nature whilst the pale walls were illuminated by golden lamps on the walls. All in all, kinda looked stereotypical.

Barmaids in green attire, a large woman behind a counter that had a door that led to the kitchen and a bunch of nearby adventurers nearby.

Maybe the stereotypical appearance is the appeal that Emma wants? She's surely basking in the atmosphere as she's practically melting in front of Dia on a 4 seated table.

Dia turned to me and waved. I nodded and walked towards her.

"Kya…" A girl softly shrieked as she shivered and looked towards me. Must've bumped into her.

She had light-grey hair tied into a ponytail behind a frilly head-cap that allowed bangs to dangle near her grey eyes. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you. I just didn't see you there." She bowed multiple times.

I nodded; she briefly smiled and walked away in a hurry.

Shit, man. Am I scary?

My ears twitched as I approached the table with a… smug Emma. She kinda looked like a prude.

"Didn't expect colourless with a vague golden outline." 

I paused. A voice that was clear resonated throughout the tavern. No, it just stood out to me among all the voices.

I momentarily turned around to look at who said that.

I saw nothing suspicious. The voice wasn't particularly special and it didn't resemble any rowdy voice.

"Is something wrong?" Dia politely asked.

I shook my head "Thought someone called my name."

She acquiesced.

The food arrived the moment I sat down; the food was delivered by a cat girl with short black hair and tail with green eyes. She had this ever-present smile that said she knew something about you. It was mildly endearing.

CLINK

I glance towards the food. Spaghetti, roasted lamb dipped in honey and orange rice with chicken curry. Interesting.

"Beer, please!" Emma ordered jovially. There was already two mugs near her.

"Tea, please." Dia ordered.

The cat girl turned towards me "...Apple juice?" I softly asked.

She smiled and nodded "Coming right up!"

Huh, surprisingly energetic.

"Hmm?" I noticed Dia and Emma blankly stare at me.

They glanced at each other. 

"The power of bishounens are fearsome indeed." Emma stated.

Dia nodded "Fearsome indeed."

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. She's clearly into younger people, she occasionally glances at the smaller patrons. I'm not even that small. I'm medium-sized.

The drinks arrived and we all thanked her. Her tail was flowing around hypnotically.

I could feel a faint smile as I began to eat with the wooden fork. The spaghetti was actually pretty good. The tomato sauce and the slight spice blended well together along with the heat. 

The meat of the lamb was tender and juices leaked as even a slight cut with a wooden knife sliced it like jelly. It smelt of herbs and a bite showed that it held a subtly sweet but pleasant taste of lamb.

…The orange rice was spicy. Like really spicy. It wasn't bad and it actually had juices at the bottom which enhanced it's flavour. The chicken was standard, if a little too soft which made it unnoticeable.

I can see why Emma wanted to go to this particular tavern. It's pretty good overall.

"How is it?" Dia asked me with a pleasant smile.

"Pretty good."

As I was eating I noticed Lefiya along with a group of people eating. A deadpan blond, a short charismatic blond, a green-haired elf, a staunt dwarf and a bunch of others along with a red-head that looked shady in loose clothing that was partially modern with a skimpy tracksuit.

Lefiya glanced towards me and looked like she had something to say but remained silent nonetheless. The green elf noticed but also remained silent.

My group finished our meal and left.

Pretty lazy day.